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Amazon Faces Legal Storm: FTC and 17 States Accuse E-commerce Giant of Antitrust Violations

ByAlki David

Sep 27, 2023

The US Federal Trade Commission, alongside 17 state attorneys general, launched a legal battle against Amazon, a company valued at a staggering $1.3 trillion. This lawsuit, unveiled yesterday, alleges a series of antitrust violations that have raised eyebrows and sparked a national conversation.

After four years of meticulous investigation, the authorities are honing in on two core aspects of Amazon’s colossal empire: its online marketplace and its expansive fulfillment services, encompassing a vast network of warehouses and delivery infrastructure. What’s at the heart of the matter? Let’s delve into the allegations.

The FTC, in its lawsuit (see overview), contends that Amazon has been wielding its marketplace prowess to manipulate prices and stifle competition. The accusation is clear: Amazon prohibits third-party sellers from offering products at a lower price than what’s available on Amazon itself. If any daring seller dares to challenge this pricing status quo, Amazon’s response is to bury their offerings in the depths of its search results, effectively rendering them invisible to potential customers.

But the allegations don’t stop there. The FTC also asserts that Amazon compels sellers to utilize its fulfillment services, thereby creating a stranglehold on the market for independent fulfillment providers. This move not only limits choice for sellers but also tightens Amazon’s grip on the e-commerce supply chain.

The FTC’s legal move is not without ambition. While they’ve thrown down the gauntlet, they’ve left the specifics of the desired outcome somewhat open-ended. Rather than prescribing a strict course of action, they’re asking the federal court in Seattle to explore the possibility of structural changes to Amazon’s business model.

This lawsuit follows in the wake of separate federal antitrust actions targeting tech giants like Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook. The mounting legal challenges to industry titans underscore a growing concern among regulators about the power and influence wielded by these digital behemoths.

In a landscape where e-commerce is king, this legal battle between the government and Amazon has the potential to reshape the future of online shopping and competition. As the case unfolds, we’ll be watching closely to see how Amazon responds and whether this marks a turning point in the ongoing antitrust saga of the tech industry.

By Alki David

Alki David — Publisher, Media Architect, SIN Network Creator - live, direct-to-public communication, media infrastructure, accountability journalism, and independent distribution. Born in Lagos, Nigeria; educated in the United Kingdom and Switzerland; attended the Royal College of Art. Early internet broadcaster — participated in real-time public coverage during the 1997 Mars landing era using experimental online transmission from Beverly Hills. Founder of FilmOn, one of the earliest global internet television networks offering live and on-demand broadcasting outside legacy gatekeepers. Publisher of SHOCKYA — reporting since 2010 on systemic corruption inside the entertainment business and its expansion into law, finance, and regulation. Creator of the SIN Network (ShockYA Integrated Network), a federated media and civic-information infrastructure spanning investigative journalism, live TV, documentary, and court-record reporting. Lived and worked for over 40 years inside global media hubs including Malibu, Beverly Hills, London, Hong Kong and Gstaad. Early encounter with Julian Assange during the first Hologram USA operations proved a formative turning point — exposing the realities of lawfare, information suppression, and concentrated media power. Principal complainant and driving force behind what court filings describe as the largest consolidated media–legal accountability action on record, now before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Relocated to Antigua & Barbuda and entered sustained legal, civic, and informational confrontation over media power, safeguarding, and accountability at Commonwealth scale.